Steeds and Snow
by ExtremeEly23
Summary: Equestrian AU. [Elsanna] Elsa is the new girl at Arendelle Stables, and Anna is their best rider . Will Anna be able to bring Elsa out of her shell? Will romance blossom between the two? More chapters coming soon.
1. Chapter 1

Horse Riding.

The most ridiculous and overblown sport to date Elsa's father had signed her up for.

Well so she thought, until memories of loathsome Sunday afternoons spent inspecting rusty coins and dull stamps tapped on her conscious; as if to remind her that this indeed was not the _worst _extra-curricular activity she had been subjected to.

Elsa's eyes flicked upwards, and she was struck by her surroundings.

Without her noticing, the seemingly endless stream of houses, stores and strangers that flowed past the window of her father's car had given way to hills. Endless, rolling hills; hills dotted here and there with trees, creeks and grazing bovines.

Elsa made note of the haphazard fencing that seemed to stretch alongside the road forever. Couldn't the animals easily escape? Surely, they could easily step right over the ancient posts in some places.

"Hey dad, how come the cows don't jump out of their paddocks and on to the road? The fence looks like it does nothing." Elsa spoke softly, breaking the all-too-common icy silence between herself and her father.

After a few moments, the middle-aged man spoke quietly, never once removing his eyes from the road, nor changing his position in any way to acknowledge her question had ever reached his ears.

"Well, perhaps they are just happy where they are, and see no reason to try to escape."

That seemed like the general attitude out here in the country, Elsa mused, being content in just the sun, the grass and the quiet.

In fact, Horse Riding was starting to sound almost appealing.

* * *

"SIT Olaf!"

Olaf paid absolutely no attention to the command however, persisting on standing on his hind paws to rest his front one's on the side of the horse.

"Olaf, you are lucky Kristoff is so well behaved; now hop out of the way, I have to get off!"

The beagle slowly slid from his position, returning his front paws to the pavement moments before Anna landed on the ground next to him.

The light grey stallion shook off heartily, stirrups flapping at his sides as he did, then turned to face Anna, expecting his bridle to be removed; however Anna was preoccupied, her attention on the gorgeous silvery blonde who was currently being taught how to tack up a horse.

The same girl had arrived at the stable about ten minutes earlier, and Anna had felt the girl's gaze as she put Kristoff in to an extended trot across the sand arena she was riding in. It wasn't really showing off, she reasoned. Kristoff just happened to have a _very_ impressive extended trot, one that seemed to hold the new girl's attention for a satisfying length of time.

Anna now giggled quietly as the girl struggled to put on a bridle by herself, having been abandoned moments ago by her instructor, Hans the Horrible, as Anna had titled him.

It struck Anna that this was a golden opportunity, and she removed her helmet and smoothed out her hair, grabbing Kristoff's reins to lead him towards this breathtaking girl.

Smooth. She had to be smooth.

* * *

"Need a hand?"

The brunette's voice was like silk, her face calm and collected even though her hair stuck up at a goofy angle from her riding helmet.

"Y-yes…thankyou" Elsa managed to squeeze out, after what she deemed as far too long a socially acceptable pause.

Brilliant. She had been here ten minutes and already made an ass of herself.

In one quick movement the girl's hands were over her own cold ones, moving the bridle's straps.

"You need to hold the noseband out of the way so she takes the bit in to her mouth, okay?"

What? What had she said? Elsa had been far to entranced by her piercing blue eyes to listen.

"Okay" was all Elsa could nervously reply as the light brown mare she was preparing to ride now gladly took the bit in to her mouth.

"There. I've gotta go untack Kristoff now, I guess I'll see you around" the girl smiled, straightening out her two plaits.

"Thanks for the help" Elsa murmured, receiving a warm smile in response.

"No problem"

And then she was gone, walking away with that massive stallion of hers, an excited beagle loping by her side.

* * *

"Kristoff did you SEE that?! I talked to her! I did it! She is so sweet and shy and gorgeous I can barely handle it! Do you think I made a good impression? Does she think I'm nice?"

Kristoff responded with a relaxed snort, nuzzling Anna's cheek before receiving a carrot.

Anna chuckled.

"Thanks for the advice, you goof" she smirked.

"Then again, I shouldn't be asking advice of a horse, now should I?" Anna's voice was distant this time. Her gaze was fixed on something in the distance; The new girl. She had just dismounted after her lesson, as made clear from Horrible Hans, who was currently inspecting his hair on one of the mirrors lining the edge of the sand arena.

She removed the battered old helmet she had been loaned, her hair somehow still perfect.

Elsa sneezed cutely, dropping her helmet in the process.

Anna giggled.

'Adorable!' she thought.

Then the girl bent over to remove her helmet from the ground, and Anna couldn't help it; a shade of crimson spread across her cheeks as her eyes were drawn to this new girls perfect posterior.

Anna looked away hurriedly, busying herself with picking up her tack and slipping out of Kristoff's stable, closing the heavy wooden stable door behind her.

"Hey" she heard a quiet voice.

Whirling around on her heel Anna nearly knocked the new girl over with Kristoff's massive saddle (required to match his equally massive height).

"H-Hi! How was your first lesson?" Anna asked, nervousness seeping through the cracks in her voice.

"It was nice. Thanks."

"Yeah, Astrid is a really sweet horse. Her owners were thinking of putting her in to foal eventually, but she's just so nice to ride."

The girl nodded and gave a small smile, and the two fell in to a drowning silence.

"I never found out your name." The new girl remarked, her voice barely a whisper, her eyes glued to the pavers of the stable block.

"I'm Anna, and that big lug I was riding earlier is Kristoff. What's your name?"

"Elsa. My name's Elsa."

"Well it's nice to meet you Elsa." Anna stated cheerfully.

"I've gotta go put this saddle away now, but I hope I get to see you around here, you seem really sweet."

Elsa's cheeks flushed pink at that.

"I'll..see you around then"

Anna grinned at the blonde before turning to shuffle her way towards the tack room with the heavy tack.

* * *

"Elsa" Anna mumbled as she slid her saddle cloth on to its rack.

"What a pretty name"


	2. Chapter 2

Inside rein, outside leg; Inside rein, outside-

"No, you're doing it wrong. Do it again."

Elsa wanted to cry.

She had been at this for thirty minutes, her father was not picking her up until five, and Hans had yet to tell her once that she was doing anything correctly. Worse still, Elsa could see Anna out of the corner of her eye, brushing Krisotff down and observing her ride.

'Hans the Horrible', a name Anna had called him, to which Elsa was seeing more and more credit, sighed with boredom before zipping up his (highly unnecessary) designer vest and turning on his heel.

"We're done for today; I'll see you tomorrow. Oh and be sure your father leaves the cheque on my desk" he stated unsympathetically, disappearing towards the farm house, and leaving Elsa to pat her mare and dismount in disappointment.

"You did a great job. You're really excellent for having never ridden before." a voice behind her remarked cheerfully.

Anna.

"O-oh, thanks. Hans didn't seem to think so, though…" Elsa added sadly.

"Hans is an asshole." came Anna's frank reply.

Elsa gave a small smile, but Anna could see how downtrodden she was as she led her mare back to the stables.

"Hey! I'm going out on a trail ride with Kristoff later today; Do you maybe want to come along? We could have a picnic? I know this really great spot and it'll be really sunny and warm there…"

Anna trailed off, looking at Elsa with those hopeful blue eyes. Elsa had seen it on Anna's face, how she had psychologically prepared herself to ask Elsa, how she had tried to come across as nonchalant, and how terrified she was of Elsa's response.

"I'd love too." Elsa replied softly

Relief. Relief and excitement; that's what Elsa saw.

With her introspective personality, Elsa never really had a desire to talk to others, nor to be social or open up to someone, and thus she had become extremely good at reading people's emotions, to see what they wanted, what they felt, what they were trying to hide.

Anna, however, had nothing to hide. She was genuinely just a sweet, kind and cheerful person.

"So if we want to get there at around 3, we'll have to leave here at about 2, which means we'll have to get the horses out at 1 and have the food ready by noon." Anna calculated on her fingers, whilst simultaneous listing every item of food she knew, and which ones Elsa might like (although she didn't dare ask). The food had to be perfect. The trail ride had to be perfect. Anna had to make this afternoon perfect.

"Sure thing, I'll see you then."

Elsa's voice was almost cheerful.

* * *

"All ready to go, Elsa?"

Elsa mumbled an affirmative response as she attempted to get from the ground in to the saddle of Astrid as gracefully and quickly as possible, only really succeeding in the later.

"I uh…I bought some food at the little grocery store right near here and I made us some sandwiches, so we should have plenty of food."

"That sounds lovely." Elsa answered calmly, sitting up in the saddle and tapping Astrid's sides with her heels to get her moving.

"Oh and Elsa?"

"Yes?"

"You're going the wrong way."

Elsa went red and looked down at that, and Anna had to bite back a smile, knowing it would probably only make things worse if she blurted out how cute Elsa was when embarrassed.

Turning her horse in the _correct _direction, Elsa shortened her reins and kept her eyes on her horse's neck; not daring to look up at Anna, who had slowed Kristoff down for a few strides so the two horses were walking apace.

"This is going to be great!" Anna enthusiastically assured.

* * *

"I spy with my little eye, something beginning with…T"

"Hmmm, it wouldn't happen to be tree, would it?" Elsa asked, amusement plaguing the question.

"Noooo, I'm not _that _bad, Elsa"

"Tree Trunk?"

There was a few moments of silence before Anna finally responded,

"Damn you're good."

Elsa chuckled.

"Not really, you just stared at that fallen tree trunk for like 10 seconds before you asked the question."

Wait, Elsa chuckled?

Elsa didn't chuckle. She knew she didn't. She gave weak smiles and half-hearted replies, she nodded responses and mumbled her conversations; she didn't chuckle.

And yet here she was, chuckling and happy and having a great time.

Anna was just so entertaining and fun, it was impossible not to have a good time. She had sneezed earlier and smacked herself in the face with one of her plaits, and although Elsa hid a small grin, she asked if Anna was okay and received a boisterous laugh followed by an apology, for what, exactly, Elsa was unsure.

"We're here!"

Out of nowhere, Anna had reined Kristoff up and Elsa had to yank herself from her thoughts to urgently stop the all-too-happy to keep moving horse beneath her.

Elsa heard a small thud as Anna jumped from the towering height of Kristoff's back to land securely on the ground.

Anna inhaled deeply, smiling at the satisfying smell of forest and sunshine, as she pulled the pack from behind her stallion's saddle.

Elsa, however was having a little more trouble. It seemed that her foot had somehow gotten caught in her left stirrup as she tried to dismount, and she was urgently tugging at it in an attempt to fix it before Anna saw.

"Are you okay Elsa?"

Too late.

"Y-yeah I was just…well…no, not really."

Anna could clearly see how painfully embarrassed Elsa was, and resolved to help her out without embarrassing the poor girl any further.

"Okay, let me give you a hand."

Leaving Kristoff to stand patiently (a great exhibit of his excellent training), Anna moved to Elsa's horse, taking the reins to hold her steady.

"Easy, Astrid, just stand still while Elsa gets off."

Putting on her most calm and reasonable voice, Anna began.

"So Elsa, first you're going to need to sit back up in the saddle. Yes, just like that. Then you need to twist your heel outwards, yep, excellent. Now your foot should be clear of the stirrup and you can swing your leg over, nice and quickly, but be careful not to use too much-OOF"

Elsa opened her eyes to see her own face mere millimetres from Anna's.

"…Force."

Jumping off Anna like a scared cat, Elsa began spewing a litany of frantic apologies, explanations, and asking repeatedly if she was okay, anything she could before she was silenced by Anna.

"Elsa…it's okay, you didn't hurt me and there's no need to apologise. Hey, I remember when I kicked Hans the Horrible in the head one time while I was dismounting…although thinking back on it, it was pretty hilarious BUT MY POINT IS that you don't need to worry about it, okay?"

"O…okay, sorry."

Anna smiled.

"It's okay. Now let's eat! Ah, and I hope you like chocolate; I forgot to tell you, I brought some chocolates to have after."

"I love chocolate!" Elsa instantly answered, in a voice far more enthusiastic than any Anna had heard from her before.

"I mean, I love chocolate." she restated, back to her usual monotone.

Anna grinned, thrilled to have seen such enthusiasm from Elsa.

"Excellent!"

* * *

"And then he fell flat on his face in to the mud!" Anna finished.

Elsa laughed again, wiping her eyes.

"Wow, what a great story, I wish I could have been there! The look on his face would have been priceless.

"Oh, you have no idea."

The pair laughed together again, and Anna sighed relaxedly, settling back on to the picnic blanket next to Elsa.

Comfortable silence slowly fell over the pair and the only sounds were of horses quietly grazing and the rustling of wind through the surrounding trees.

After a few minutes, Anna finally spoke. Only a few words; soft ones too, but Elsa could sense the seriousness in Anna's tone.

"Hey Elsa, I…I'm really happy you came here with me today."

"I'm really happy I came here too, Anna."

And for the first time in what felt like forever, Elsa smiled a real smile. A big, happy, genuine smile that seemed to light up her face and make her eyes sparkle with glee.

And it felt so good.


End file.
